Appearance: 
  
 
Page:   
 Share It:
https://fiction.homepageofthedead.com/forum.pl?readfiction=402H

Their Insides Torn II: End of Serenity
(© Bryan Way)

This contribution is part of a series:-
1. Their Insides Torn (15-Nov-2000)
2. Their Insides Torn II: End of Serenity (23-Jul-2002)
3. Their Insides Torn III: Philosophy (8-Oct-2003)
4. Their Insides Torn IV: Hindsight (30-Jan-2004)
5. Their Insides Torn V: Relics (27-Mar-2011)
The final entry of a series following one man's quest to physically and mentally survive in the world of the undead.

Page 1

When one lives in the wilderness, insanity reaches an apex. With no one to talk to but one’s self, one almost forgets how to talk altogether. Several times I have tried to open my mouth and make a sound, but only dry air was produced. Within months all the surrounding wildlife, which I hunted and killed for food, were gone. Either the beasts or myself must have killed them off.

The final transmission on my pocket TV had been one year, two months, three weeks and four days past. Paranoia had grown within me that forced me to stop eating fish because I feared disease. I began to stop trusting my water purifier because it said it was only 99.9% effective in filtering bacteria and viruses. It was around this time that I felt I should move on.

From the time I left my house originally up to the current day had been about two years. I was no longer a 15 year old with a degree of intelligence, now I was 17 and a man in most respects. I had grown maybe four inches and gained thirty pounds in muscles, putting me at about 6’ and 190 pounds. I was in the best shape of my life, but no one was around to care.

I woke up at about noon on a crisp autumn day, the kind where walking outside was reminiscent of being on an airstrip from the collective noise of falling leaves and freezing winds. I rubbed my elbows as I stood after leaving my home for the first time in a few days (eating had become a burden for me.) I reached up and stroked my chin, noticing the first signs of stubble on my face. Having pale skin, blonde hair and a British origin has allowed me very little body hair.

I kicked my bare right foot into the ground, my only way of exerting annoying emotions because of the coldness of the day. Looking out over the forest landscape and my creek, full of cold water that I forbade myself to drink, I couldn’t help but feel alone. This was the first time I felt this way since I stayed the winter in that shack in Ohio, stuck without batteries for my television, stuck with nothing but solitaire, but mostly just stuck with myself.

I looked off to the left and noticed my clothing line. The black shirt and thick jeans I started my adventure on had just finished drying from their previous washing. I stripped down and put the clothes on and noticed that they hardly fit me anymore. I simply shrugged at this and turned to the right. To my immense surprise, there was a deer eating berries.

I licked my lips; trying to remember the last time I tasted that sweet deer meat, or venison for that matter, being as this was a younger deer. I pushed my hand inside the entry hole to my dwelling and retrieved my rifle which I always kept loaded just incase. I knelt down on the leaves before me and took careful for the animal’s eye. As I pulled the trigger, steaming hot black powder shot into my face as the rifle broke at the loading port.

The deer fell kicking and I dropped the gun, wiping the residue off my face. I ran to the deer and quickly snapped its neck. I then turned its head over and checked the other eye. The pupil was not white, so this one had not been infected. To make sure, I opened the mouth and raised the tongue to see if its salivary glands were spurting white fluid. I discovered that after death, a Zombie’s salivary glands would discharge their contents. It would appear that today was my lucky day, no such liquid.

Standing, I went back to my rifle. It had broken at the loading port and there was no way I could fix it by myself. It was here that my mind reached a state of clarity. I could hunt no more, I was afraid to drink the water, my clothes didn’t fit and I was on the brink of insanity. It was indeed time to move on.

I started by going inside my home and putting out the fire. I grabbed my small TV first, and then picked my lighter up off the oak chair. It had run out of fluid months ago. I was about to leave when I looked to the corner and saw my killing stick. I smiled softly as I saw and grabbed it. As I put my hand on it my mind flashed back to the first time I used it on a Zombie. I then crawled out my opening and looked inside one last time.

I picked up the side pack I left sitting outside and jammed the TV and lighter into it. I also grabbed my empty three-gallon canteen. I peered at the deer for a moment and sliced it open with a sharpened rock. I peeled the skin off its bone and began picking meat off its target areas, where the muscle was the thickest. I could feel the slightly greasy meat slide down my stomach’s surface and settle. It was most delightful.

[ Continue to page 2 ]

Donate
Help keep this site online by donating and helping to cover its costs.

Information
Genre:Living Dead
Type:Medium length story
Rating:7.07 / 10
Rated By:281 users
Comments: 5 users
Total Hits:13657

Follow Us
 Join us on Facebook to be notified of updates
 Follow us on Twitter to be notified of updates

Forum Discussion
 "In A Violent Nature" - trailer... »
 Helldivers 2 (video game) »
 Alien: Romulus (trailer)... »
 Could James Rhodes aka War Machine hav... »
 Could James Remar have portrayed Rhode... »
 Reacher (Amazon series) »
 SRS Cinema (Merged Threads) »
 Rate the last movie you've seen »
 Fallout (Amazon Prime series) - Based ... »
 TWD: "The Ones Who Live" (Rick/Michonn... »
 TWD: Dead City teaser... »
 Had Rhodes and the boys been inside th... »
 Shogun (TV series) »
 MZ's Movie Review Thread »
 Dune: Part 2 (film) »
 For those who have visited the Monroev... »
 Masters of the Air (Apple TV+ series)... »
 the Walking Dead Empires. PC/MAC MMO S... »
 Boy Kills World (film) trailer... »
 Dawn Of The Dead (1978) - On-Set Home ... »